Interactive multimedia centers are characterized by an increasing number of channels of programming available and an increasing amount of functionality offered. The increased number of available channels results from increased program availability from such services as cable and satellites. New types of functionality include recording, time-shifting, and convergence with the Internet. These increases in available programming and functionality result in a dense and complex user interface in an environment that typically does not have a desktop for a mouse or keyboard, the standard input devices for the complex user interfaces typical of personal computers. Rather, the typical user input devices of choice for televisions and multi-media centers is one or more infra-red (IR) remote controls laden with pushbuttons, including arrow, keypad and dedicated function buttons. These button-laden remote controls are utilized for the selection of channels and functions and for onscreen navigation. However, current interactive televisions and multi-media centers now have too many channels and functions for this type of interface to be effective and a more efficient interface is desired.
One bottleneck in this interactive interface is the button-laden remote control. Remote controls typically provide directional arrow buttons for limited incremental on-screen navigation and a baffling array of dedicated buttons for the numerous functions. Pressing the “arrow keys” generally selects the adjacent on-screen element in the direction associated with the arrow. While simple to understand and implement, this step-wise interface is slow and tedious and an impediment to the efficient interaction with the large number of channels and functions in interactive television and multi-media centers.
A second bottleneck is the graphical user interface itself. Program guides, also referred to as “grid guides,” are commonly used for displaying available programming. Program guides generally display six to ten horizontal bands, with each band representing channels of available programming. Each horizontal band is broken into segments representing the time when programming changes, which commonly occurs on the hour or half-hour. Users typically scroll and/or page up and down through the available channels in a large loop connected end-to-beginning. Scrolling/paging up generally moves lower in channel number and scrolling/paging down moves higher in the channel listings. Scrolling/paging right in a program guide takes the user ahead in time to scheduled programming and scrolling/paging left goes back in time through the scheduled programming.
Interaction with elements in a program guide is done with the directional arrow buttons on the remote control representing up, down, left, and right. These buttons are generally configured to operate in a step-wise fashion. That is, one click of the button represents one incremental move in the corresponding direction. Also, typical of most program guides are auto-highlighting elements referred to as “Program Cells” within the program guide. As the user steps up and down and back and forth within the program grid, Program Cells are highlighted in sequence, one at a time, indicating the user's interactive position in the display.
As cable, satellite, and internet-delivered programming increases, the small number of programs that fit on a standard program guide display becomes an increasingly smaller percentage of all programs available to the user. Moving through the entire channel lineup and seeing which programs are favorites or what types of programs are available by theme becomes an ever more tedious undertaking. Users may compensate for this in a variety of ways, ranging from memorizing the channel numbers of favorites or remembering how many pages down a desired channel is from another. Providers may attempt to compensate by positioning preferred programs “up front,” but at the expense of viewer choice and control. However, neither of these solutions is sufficient and a new type of user interface is required to overcome this problem.
Preferably, such an interface and controller would allow efficient navigation, selection and activation in a dense interface that requires fewer individual buttons on the remote control and allows the user to view the screen rather than the remote control while making selections. Unlike a computer interface, the preferred new interface would not use a mouse, as no desktop is generally available in a television environment, and the interface would not require an on screen cursor.